


A Light In The Darkness

by 1_x_Anonymous_x_1



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-11-28 23:17:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11428320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1_x_Anonymous_x_1/pseuds/1_x_Anonymous_x_1
Summary: Ruby Rose has learned many things - how to kill monsters, how to wield weapons most couldn't even dream the existence of... One thing she has yet to learn is the impact a single person can have on a life. This experience is a double-edged sword, one many could not bear. Where one person can bring happiness and wonder, another can take that all away and then some. For most, the risk is way too high. They would rather stick with a normal, unchanging life than one with such possibilities. Now begs the question: which side of this spectrum does she fall on? [Ladybug/Freezerburn. Rated Teen for now, will become explicit as story progresses. Cross-posted on FF.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12558142/1/A-Light-In-The-Darkness]





	1. Chapter 1

“Oh, I'm so happy my baby sister made it into Beacon,” Yang said while pulling Ruby into an inescapable hug. Ruby sputtered, sick of getting a face full of her older sister’s cleavage every time she felt especially proud of her. Thankfully, Yang soon released her.

Noticing the amazing view beyond the see-through sides of the ship, Ruby walked over. As she did, she noticed a blonde boy running off to somewhere, face green and looking as though he had just vomited and was doing everything he could to keep it in his mouth to find a trash can or something related to that. 

After taking in the view, she decided to return to Yang, but the ship lurched sideways and she was sent sliding backwards. She knew she was going to hit the ground, hard, but there was nothing she could do about it. But it seemed someone else could. Instead of being greeted by a hard floor, soft hands clasped around her arms and pushed her back upright. She turned around to see who it was. Her savior wore a black and white outfit, had long raven hair, amber eyes, and, strangely, wore a bow on her head. Ruby was almost mesmerized by her.

“Thanks, uh…” Ruby said, realizing she didn't yet know the girl’s name.

“Blake.”

“Oh. Uh… thanks Blake.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I'm Ruby by the way.”

“Ruby? Pretty name.” 

“Thanks.” Ruby paused as if trying to figure out what to say next. “So… uh… Why are going to Beacon?” 

This question seemed to end Blake’s simple answers and actually make her think. “The world’s a dark place - believe me, I know this firsthand. So, I wanna try to do something about it. You?”

“Just wanna help people,” Ruby replied.

“That's noble, I guess. A little naive though.”

“Naive?”

“It sounds simple enough to do, but that's far from the truth.”

“Well that's our job, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. Still though, it's much easier said than done,” Blake resigned.

“Don't doubt it. Anyways-" Ruby was cut off by a news broadcast. It explained her fight with Roman and how he escaped. When it was over, Blake was almost in awe.

“That was you?”

“Yep.”

Blake could hardly believe it. Ruby - a cheery girl who she had to doubt would harm a fly - held her own against a major criminal, and might’ve even won had his escape not shown up. “Wow. I have to doubt I could've pulled that off.”

“Guess Ozpin was right to put me here early then.”

Blake couldn't believe her ears - both sets of them. “Early?”

“Yeah. I was supposed to be at Signal for two more years. Instead, here I am.”

Okay… she could understand someone like herself mayyybe holding off Roman, but Ruby - someone who was two whole years younger than her… That was beyond surprising. Beyond surprising. 

Realizing her thoughts led her to stare off into space, she snapped out of it and looked to the small, happy girl in front of her. Vaguely recalling Ruby’s last statement, she spoke up. “All the better - for the both of us.” 

“And Yang.”

“Yang?” Blake asked.

“Older sister. Since I was supposed to be at Signal this year while she was supposed to be here, we were supposed to be separated for the first time in… basically forever. But, that changed.”

Blake could already sense the ‘big sister drama’ that was going to ensue. Of course, she would never say anything even related to that, so she just told Ruby, “I guess you were right. Probably is better for you two to be here at the same time.”

“Mhm.”

The Bullhead landed, and everyone started rushing out. Yang found Ruby in the chaos, grabbed her, and ran along with everyone else. Once they were in a semi-calm area, Ruby spoke to Yang. “So… Whaddya wanna do?”

“Well, uh, I've got some friends and their coming over here right now and gottagoseeya.” 

Yang’s friends got her out of there almost as fast as they arrived, leaving Ruby beyond disoriented. She fell, but once again, it wasn't the ground that stopped her fall… it was a luggage cart. When Ruby looked up and opened her eyes, she saw a very angry-looking white-haired girl wearing a combat skirt yelling at her, though she couldn't yet make out the words. They all ran together. When she finally regained her hearing and focus, she heard “-have any idea the damage you could've caused?”

Ruby reached around and tried to get up, but the only places within her reach were covered by the girl's luggage. Still, she tried to push herself up, but before her hand even touched the girl's things, she heard, “Give me that!” and it was torn out of her hands.

“This is dust, mined and purified from the Schnee quarry.”

“Uhh….”

“Are you brain dead? Dust! Fire, water, lightning, energy!” While saying this, she waved a vial containing the dust in front of Ruby’s face. It got in her nose and eyes, causing the former to give a sensation that she needed to sneeze and the latter to burn. This, combined with the fact that she was still half dazed, made her groan unintelligibly like before, which seemed to only infuriate the snow-haired girl. “Are you even listening to me? What do you have to say for yourself?”

The dust, still being waved into Ruby’s face, resulted in her sneezing. A fireball erupted around the both of them, causing the vial to go flying off to a location that neither cared about.

“Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!”

Ruby cowered down, trying to make herself as small as possible and not daring to look the witch in the eyes. “I'm really really sorry.”

“Ugh! You complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?”

“Well, I… uh… I…”

“This isn't your ordinary practice school, you know. It's not just training and sparring. We're here to fight monsters, so watch where you're going!”

“Look, I said I was sorry, princess.”

“It's heiress, actually.”

That voice… Ruby recognized it, but only when she looked over to see none other than Blake Belladonna that she remembered exactly who it belonged to.

“Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world.”

This comment seemed to shoot Weiss’ ego through the roof. “Finally, some recognition.”

“The same company-" Blake almost growled that part, “-known for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners.”

Weiss’ face was one of utter outrage. “Wha… How dare you… Ugh!” With that said, she stormed off. 

Ruby looked to her now-two-time savior. “Thanks.”

“No problem. People like that need to be put in their place. What started that, anyways?” 

“Yang took off with her friends who spun me around like a million times in a second. Fell into her luggage cart.”

“Wouldn't want to see what would've happened if you'd actually broken something.”

“Probably gotten thrown off the cliff,” Ruby stated, almost matter-of-fact-ly 

“I guess we both need to make a note to stay off her bad side.”

“No kidding. Anyways, what were we supposed to do when we got here? Yang ran off, and she's the only one I knew that knew what was going on.”

“Uhh… Ozpin’s supposed to give a speech, then we meet in the ballroom with our sleeping bags and just sleep there for the night I guess. I think we're just supposed to roam around and check things out in our free time.”

“Sounds-"

Ruby was interrupted by Goodwitch’s voice echoing through the school. “Will all students report to the courtyard at this time.”

“Guess you were right.” Blake nodded in reply. 

\------------------

After a few minutes of walking, the two were at the entrance to the courtyard. The doors - like pretty much everything else in the school - were massively oversized and overbearing. The two walked through said doors. Apparently, almost everyone in the school had beat them there, and it looked like finding a spot that wouldn’t result in the duo being crammed into a crowd or being stuck at the very back was going to be almost impossible. However, Yang was - for the first time in a while - Ruby’s savior. Ruby heard her voice and looked over to her. “Ruby. C’mere. I saved you a spot.” Ruby immediately rushed over, Blake in tow.

“So, how’s your day been?” Yang asked her younger sister. Then she saw Blake and said, “There’s my answer then.” It was said in cheery sort of way.

“Think again, sis. Blake’s been about the only good thing that happened today.”

“Bad day already?”

“Well, you and your friends ditched me and sent me in a tailspin, so I fell into this really mean girl’s things, then she started screaming at me and waving dust around, and I sneezed and literally exploded and then-” To Ruby’s horror, Weiss was revealed to have been standing behind Yang, probably having heard all of her conversation. She looked as though she was going to scream at Ruby again, but Blake simply stepped forward and put her arm out to block the siblings,then approached Weiss. The two had a brief exchange of words which Yang nor Ruby could hear, but the end result was satisfying. Not even a minute later, Weiss was sent running off somewhere, and Blake walked back to the two, her face blank as ever.

“Was that her?” Yang asked. Ruby simply nodded.

“Good riddance, then. Anyways, you wanna continue your story?”

“Oh. Yeah. So, I literally exploded in front of the school, and that got her even more mad, but then Blake here came over and chased her off.”

“...And you thought it was going to be hard to make friends.”

“Guess I was wrong there.”

Before any of them had the chance to say another word, the loud sound (basically the same as the one that had ordered the courtyard) echoed around. It was a man clearing his throat this time. “I’ll… Keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge - to hone your craft and acquire new skills.And when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose. Direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step.”

This left the crowd with an odd feeling, though none of them could pinpoint exactly what it was. They didn’t exactly have much time either, because Glynda approached the microphone and said, “You will gather tonight in the ballroom. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed.”

The noise of the crowd picked up once again, with people talking about all kinds of random things. Yang, talkative as ever, decided to speak to Blake this team, finding it odd that she hadn’t said a word. “So Blake, thanks for helping Ruby out back there.”

Blake simply shrugged. “What else was I supposed to do? Besides, people like that witch need to be put in their place.”

“Makes sense. I saw here for about two seconds, and she just gave me the urge to send her sailing into a wall.”

“Ruby and I both probably wanted to.”

“Yeah. Seems like you two are getting along pretty well.”

“Surprisingly, yes.”

“Soooo… Know anything about this initiation process?”

“I wish. Just hope I get a team that isn’t full of morons or racist halfwits.” The manner in which she said it indicated bad memories or something of that sort were resurfacing. She talked as though she was speaking from experience, not wanting to relive something from her past. For the few that knew her secret - or rather both (the one which she currently concealed and the one involving her past) - the reasons as to why she acted this were blatantly clear. For now though, those reasons needed to remain a mystery to her newfound friends.

“Don’t we all…”

This little bit of darkness was lit up when Ruby cut into their conversation. “You guys know where this ballroom is?”

“Probably where everyone else is gonna be going later?” Yang suggested, though she phrased it as a question. It seemed she was just as unsure about its location as her younger sister was.

“Alright. What do we do for now then?”

“Whatever we want, I guess.”

“Okay. Any ideas?”

“I’ve got some things I’ve gotta take care of. I’ll meet up will you guys later,” Blake said, walking off before any questions could be asked.

\------------------

The ballroom was packed almost to the brim. Sleeping bags littered the floor, and it was going to be miracle if everyone didn’t get stepped on at one point or another. Ruby and Yang were now in their pajamas (the former’s consisting of a black tanktop and pants with rose petals and the latter’s consisting of a yellow one and some black short shorts). After getting everything they needed set up (sleeping bags and pillows, etc.), Ruby decided to start writing a letter back to her friends at Signal. Yang asked what she was doing, so she told her. 

Right as she was putting the finishing touches on her letter, Yang mysteriously got up, claiming she needed to talk to someone. Once her letter was done, she looked around. She spotted Blake sitting up against a wall reading a book. Yang being gone, she figured she had nothing else to do besides go talk to her raven-haired companion. 

She got up and sat down beside Blake. “Hey. Whatcha reading?”

“Hm?” It seemed Blake hadn’t even noticed her there.

“Your book. What’s it about?”

“It’s about a man with two souls, each fighting for control of his body.”

“Sounds interesting.”

“So far, it is. I’m only a couple pages into it though.”

“Can I read it too?”

Blake was surprised by this request, but definitely wasn’t going to say no. Blake had found so many brainless morons who just wanted to fight everyone or do some random, over the top things. Blake, on the other hand, had an appreciation for the simpler things in life. It seemed rare to find anyone who shared views like hers and that she actually enjoyed being around. As soon as she’d accepted Ruby’s request, Ruby moved close enough to her to actually read the book, which also happened to leave not even an inch of room between the two. This didn’t bother either of them, though, and they read well into the night, their only major interruption being Yang walking back to her sleeping bag with a red mark on her face, muttering “Ice Queen” as she walked past the two. 

Later on in the night, Blake noticed a small noise right beside her. She looked over to see Ruby’s eyes closed and her head on Blake’s shoulder. Blake wasn’t even going to ask how or why she just fell asleep right there, but it didn’t bother her. The end of her reading time only came as a result of her eyes not letting her see straight. She couldn’t really even think right, either - not that she was going to need to. As soon as she ensured she had saved her page, her eyes seemed physically impossible to keep open, so she, like Ruby, just fell asleep right there.

AN: ...aaaannnd done. Thanks for reading. This is going to (hopefully) end up being a long story. I’m going for a ‘one new chapter per week’ setup, but we’ll see how that ends up in the future. In any case, believe it or not, this is my first actual fanfic that I’ve bothered to put anywhere online, and one of the only ones I’ve ever bothered to write. Reviews will be highly appreciated, be them suggestions, praise, or criticism. Now, in the words of the great Monty Oum, keep moving forward.


	2. Chapter 2

“Awwwwwwww…. You two look so cute.”

Ruby opened her eyes and vaguely saw the unmistakable figure of Yang Xiao Long in front of her, barely able to comprehend what she had said. She then rubbed her eyes, now able to see more clearly. Yang was already in her trademarked combat outfit. She then looked to her right and saw Blake. Last night’s events slowly came back to her, specifically reading with her companion, then… Falling asleep on her shoulder? Ruby could hardly believe that had happened, but her memory wasn't going to betray her. She looked back to Yang, remembering what her sister had just said, then recalling last night’s events once more, finally realizing the meaning behind what Yang had said. Yang was never going to let this go, although even Ruby did have to admit Blake was kinda cute.

Ruby got up, still somewhat drowsy, and keeled before Blake. “Hey. Blake. Wake up. Initiation, remember?”

Blake’s amber eyes fluttered open. She looked around, Ruby’s words still a little cloudy in her mind. However, it seemed she Blake’s mind tended to awaken faster than her companion’s, because she almost immediately got up and went to find her gear.

Ruby looked to Yang, who simply said, “Fun night?” with a smirk on her face.

“Don't even-"

“Hey, I’m just saying, you got lucky. First night knowing a girl and you two end up falling asleep together.”

“Yang…” Ruby’s voice got low - almost to the point of being a growl.

“Fine, I'll lay off. Just go get ready.”

\--------------

“For years, you have trained to become warriors. And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest.” Ozpin, ending his little speech for the moment, sipped his coffee and took a step back, giving Goodwitch the spotlight.

“Now, I’m heard all of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today.”

This statement caused mixed reactions. Some were happy they’d be getting this over with. Others, like Ruby, were not so sure they were ready for this.

“These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well.”

Ruby freaked out even more.

“That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.”

Ruby thought she was going to die of panic.

“After you’ve partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not not hesitate to destroy anything in your path, or you will die. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item - as well as your standing - and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?”

“Yeah, um, sir-” 

“Good. Now, take your positions.”

Everyone took a combat stance. Everyone besides Jaune, anyway. “Um, sir. I have a question.”

The first student - Weiss on this case - was launched.

“So this landing strategy thing-”

Two more were launched.

“What is it? Your like… Dropping us off or something?”

Another two headed for the sky.

“No. You will be falling,” Ozpin replied.

“Oh, I see… So, like… Did you hand out parachutes for us?”

Four more - including Nora - were launched.

“No. You will be using your own landing strategy.”

Cardin was next.

“Huh… That…”

Yang winked at Ruby before putting on her sunglasses. The two launched almost simultaneously. 

“So, umm, what exactly is a landing strategyy-yyyyyyyyyyyyyy?” Jaune said, launched into the air mid-sentence. Ozpin and Glynda looked off in the distance, somewhat feeling sorry for Jaune, but mostly just to observe their new students.

To all those in the air - except the certain aforementioned blonde - this was a chance to show off their skills. Yang and Ruby did things like use their guns to slow their descent, while the rest had varying ways. Almost everyone ended up using the trees in one way or another. Ruby ended up hooking the blade of Crescent Rose on the tree trunk, spinning around it, then going for a graceful landing.

Thankfully, the Grimm hadn’t infested her landing zone, so she was in the clear for the moment. Using her semblance to her advantage, she took off, moving much faster than the rest.

I hope I get partnered with Yang or- her train of thought was cut off by her slamming into something, obviously not having been paying attention. Now on the ground and dazed (though having been protected from any physical damage by her aura), she looked around to see the cause of the incident. It seemed the world completed her thought for her, because she saw a certain cat faunus standing before her, hand outstretched. Seeing this, she smiled, and graciously took Blake’s hand to get up, blushing slightly.

Before either had the chance to say a word, 5 Ursas and a Beowolf appeared, surrounding them. Ruby went on the offensive first. The first Ursa fell almost immediately by her scythe blade sinking deep into its skull. Meanwhile, Blake adopted a defensive strategy, making them come to her. One lunged, but she angled her gun to shoot it in the side, knocking it slightly off course. It almost got past her, but, while it was sailing through the air, her blade pierced its back, sinking down to the blade’s hilt. It vanished, like all Grimm do after death. This seemed to enrage the rest of the pack. Two more charged Blake, from in front of her and from behind her. They would’ve had her, but Ruby’s ever-handy semblance allowed her to grab Blake by her hand and pull her away. The two Ursas slammed into each other and dazed themselves. Ruby and Blake took the opportunity and pounced almost immediately. Ruby put her scythe blade through its back, and Blake, cat-like as ever, literally pounced on its back, sinking her blade in deep. The two vanished almost simultaneously. This left two to contend with - the last Ursa and the Beowolf.

Blake scaled a tree and perched herself on a branch. She shoved a blade deep into the tree’s trunk, then released the ribbon from her wrists, the other half of her weapon in hand. “Ruby! Get it closer!”

Ruby looked back and nodded. She shot at the Ursa once to anger it. Once it started chasing her, she ran towards Blake. Once in range, Blake jumped down, landing on its back and ending its existence with one fell swoop. Ruby wondered why Blake had kept one blade in the tree, but then got the idea when she saw the Beowolf was on the other side. She activated her semblance, scaled the tree, then grabbed the blade, dislodged it, and went to towards the ground as fast as she could. The force she put behind was going to heavily damage her aura, and she knew it, but with these Grimm taken care of, it would have time to regen. The speed she was going at catapulted Blake towards the Beowolf, and Blake held her blade straight in front of her. It hit the Beowolf hard enough to take it down right then and there.

Both were panting heavily, trying to regain their breath. “Good… Plan… Blake…”

“Thanks… You okay? That fall looked… like you hit… pretty hard.”

“I’m fine... Aura… Took the hit…”

“Good… On to the relic… I guess…?”

“Yeah.”

\-------------- 

After trudging through the forest with minimal resistance, the duo had finally arrived at the relic - mainly due to hearing the scream of a certain blonde guy. Once they had arrived, it was apparent many others had as well. Yang and (Ruby almost fainted at this sight) Weiss arrived only moments before them, while Pyrrha and Jaune had already gotten their relic (an oversized chess piece, of all things). Nora and Ren arrived on the back of a Beowolf - somehow - with Ren saying, “Nora… Please never do that again.”

Once at the relic site, Yang proudly held up the white knight piece, exclaiming, “How about a cute little pony?”, to which Weiss muttered something about “childish”. Ruby - having no idea what any of the pieces were, and only knowing the knight looked like a horse - decided to take after her sister and grab the other white knight. Blake didn’t seem to care so long as the got what they came for and got out of the Forest.

“Uh... guys? That thing’s circling back.”

Looking to the sky, they all saw Jaune’s words were true. The Nevermore was indeed circling back around for another attempt at getting its dinner. Behind them, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Yang all saw the Deathstalker coming for them.

“Everybody, GO!”

Ahead, the group spotted old stone ruins which probably been there for longer than most could count. Deciding this was their best course of action, they headed towards them. The Nevermore was about to block their path, so Ren told Nora to “distract” it. Obeying, she launched shell after shell after it, but that only seemed to enrage the beast. It sent down an unholy amount of razor-sharp, 20 foot tall feathers, but, somehow, she dodged all of them. This, however, left her open to the Deathstalker. It almost got her, but Ruby and Blake jumped in front of its pincers and blocked them while Weiss used a glyph to get herself and Nora out. Blake and Ruby, barely able to hold it off, jumped out as well. It slammed its own pincers against each other, buying the group some time.

They rushed to the only bridge of the ruins nearby, but, as they were sprinting along it, the Nevermore slammed into it, sending them flying to another. This one, though, was split in half. Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha landed on one while Yang, Weiss, and Ren were on the other. The absence of Blake and Ruby worried the group - but not for long. 

When they were sent flying thanks to the oversized bird, Ruby was sent on a freefall. Blake spotted this mid-air, so she sent Shroud over a stone thing and held onto Gambol. She caught Ruby during the latter’s descent. The duo blushed a little, but they were soon back in the fight, joining Yang’s group that was currently busy with the Nevermore.

The Deathstalker sent Ren flying into a stone wall behind them, leaving Nora and Jaune. Knowing this was an unwinnable fight, Nora ran a little ways away from Jaune, then slammed her hammer into the age-old stone, causing the entire chunk he was on to go flying back with the rest. 

Nora, stylish as ever, stood in her hammer and pulled the trigger, propelling her back to the rest and leaving the Deathstalker to try to find a way over - a task which was nearly impossible, especially for a creature of Grimm.

Now that the Deathstalker was out of the fight, the Nevermore had everyone’s sole attention. Ruby (of all people) developed a plan which the group immediately set into action. Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora went off to distract the angry bird while Blake put Gambol Shroud into two stone pillars, Yang pulled it back, Weiss set a glyph in the middle of it, then Ruby jumped onto said glyph.

“Think you can make the shot?” Ruby asked her snow-haired companion.

Weiss scoffed. “Can I?”

The way in which she said it made it looked as though she wasn’t quite sure.

“Can y-”

“OF COURSE I CAN!“

Surprisingly, everything went well. The end result was Ruby catching the flying beast’s neck in the blade of her scythe mid-air, then using Weiss’ glyphs to run up the side of the cliff. The top angled out above the rest, making her job even easier. Oversized bird’s neck in hand, she ran all the way up the cliff, decapitating it and ending up at the top, looking down to her companions.

\--------------

“...Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you collected the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you shall work together as Team JNPR, led by... Jaune Arc.”

“Huh? Led by?” Jaune could hardly believe his ears.

“Congratulations, young man.”

Pyrrha gave Jaune a congratulatory punch in the arm, but this ended up toppling him over. Everyone laughed, but she quickly helped him up and they left the stage.

“And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you collected the white night pieces. From this day forward, you shall work together as Team RWBY, led by… Ruby Rose.” At hearing this Weiss, almost went berzerk. 

 

“Looks like things are shaping up to be an… Interesting year.”

\--------------

The newly-formed Team RWBY had been directed to their dorm. It was pretty plain (a bathroom, four beds lined up side-by-side, and some curtains), but that was to be expected. After all, it was their job to decorate and everything else. 

The girls planned on doing everything necessary tomorrow, but they needed their essentials tonight. For Ruby, it was… pretty much nothing. There was nothing so important that it couldn’t wait. For Weiss, it was… pretty close to everything she had brought because she was a spoiled rich girl. For Blake, it was a small bookcase (it only had two rows) and her books. For Yang, it was mainly a bunch of posters and other unimportant things. 

In the end, the room was so packed that there was no longer any space between the two beds on the left (unlike how it originally was). Yang chose the one on the far right, Ruby chose the far left. This left Weiss two options: the one nearest Yang or the one beside Ruby’s. This was an obvious choice. That left Blake with the one directly beside Ruby’s - not that she was going to complain.

After the four girls had taken showers and gotten into their pajamas, they got into their beds. Yang fell asleep almost immediately, and Weiss soon followed. Meanwhile, Blake and Ruby had no intent upon following suit. Instead, they found themselves continuing the book they had read the night before. They got through about 100 pages before deciding they were indeed human and did indeed need sleep. Before Ruby fell asleep, she could almost hear the taunts from Yang in the morning about her sharing a bed with Blake or something to that effect. She didn’t care though. Why should she?


	3. Chapter 3

Ruby awoke to snickering which she almost immediately recognized to be coming from Yang. She was perplexed for a moment, but, after opening her eyes and realizing that her and Blake had their arms wrapped around each other, she knew exactly why Yang was acting this way.

She was torn between not wanting to leave to comfort of the bed (and Blake, though she wasn't even willing to admit this to herself), and wanting to get up and punch that smug look off of her sister's face.

In the end, she decided the latter was a terrible idea (seeing as how Yang was about a million times stronger than her), so she just laid there for the moment. The way she saw things, there was nothing better to do, and not many could argue with that. Yang could do whatever she wanted for the moment; Ruby was powerless to do anything about it. But, if Weiss' shower meant she could stay where she was for a few moments longer, she could've cared less - Yang or no Yang. She didn't know why, but she really just didn't feel like getting up.

However, those blissful moments had to end at some point. Good things can't last forever, eh? About a half hour later, Blake started to stir, and Yang resumed her snickering. Blake pretty much had the same reaction as Ruby. Difference is, she didn't feel like sitting there and dealing with the brute, so she got up, booking it to the bathroom for a shower, only to discover the door was locked. She looked to Yang, who simply said, "Ice Queen… Wouldn't disturb her if I were you."

Blake had seen the heiress angered before, and, as much as she would've loved to have an excuse to shut her up for a while, she was barely even awake yet. Anything related to Weiss would have to wait.

She sighed in defeat, knowing she'd have to deal with Yang for a while, and that seemed torturous enough. Then there was the whole 'decorating the room' thing they would be doing later - something that she really didn't care for. She had her books, and that was good enough. Why they insisted upon wasting their time for such menial things was beyond her, but she wasn't even about to try to understand her companions. Especially not this early in the morning.

For now, they were all doomed to the small room with nowhere to go. Yang was enjoying herself, but the other two shared no such sentiment. Quite the opposite, in fact. But, nothing could be done. As such, Blake returned to the spot from which she awoke, leaning against the wall and staring off into space - or so it looked to another observer.

"Alright, guys, now that Yang's done taking the hot water from half the people at Beacon, we can finally get to our first thing of the day: decorating!"

Weiss groaned at hearing this. Yang grabbed a mismatched pile of… whatever it was. Blake held up a suitcase, telling Ice Queen, "We still have to unpack." The moment she finished her sentence, the suitcase opened up, dumping every last one of its contents. "...and clean up." Normally, this would've infuriated her, but the items within it were going to have to be removed anyway, so it didn't matter that much. It did contain a certain book which she definitely didn't want anyone besides herself to ever lay eyes on though, and she counted herself lucky that the rest of the mess concealed it.

Ruby and Yang both didn't need to be asked twice to decorate the room, and got to it immediately. Weiss had already unpacked almost everything she had the night before, claiming they were necessities. The other three couldn't comprehend how four of the almost exact same dress were necessities, but they figured it was better not to ask. Blake got her things set up the quickest (mainly because they were already unpacked and everything fit into the aforementioned suitcase).

By the end of their decorating phase, everything was where it needed to be - everything except the beds, which were currently stacked in a heap in the middle of the room. Weiss was the first one to bring this up, a scowl creeping across her face as she said, "This is not going to work."

Blake, for the first time, agreed, stating, "It is a bit crowded."

Yang only saw one solution to this. "Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff."

The other three shook their heads. Too much time and effort had gone into this. Ruby saved the day when she told the group, "Maybe we should ditch the beds… And replace the with bunk beds!"

"That sounds incredibly dangerous," Weiss stated, pessimistic as ever.

"And super awesome!" Yang replied.

"It does seem efficient," Blake remarked in her usual monotone.

"L-lets take it to a vote."

"Umm… I think we just did," Ruby told the heiress. Weiss sighed in despair, overruled by the people who had the least right to do so.

The three rushed over to the beds, and, not too much later (mainly due to Ruby's semblance), they were complete… If you wish to call it that. One was held up by some rather weak-looking rope while the other sat on top of stacks of books. Weiss was outraged. She knew at least one of these would come crashing down by the end of the day.

Ruby soon spoke up. "Alright. Next up on our list is… classes. Now, we have a few classes together. History starts at nine o'clo-"

"Nine o'clock? Its eight fifty-five!" Weiss cut in. She dashed out of the dorm She was a Schnee, and she was not about to be late to any class, let alone her first one at Beacon. Yang followed, then Ruby, then Blake Apparently, Team JNPR made the same mistake they did, because they almost immediately rushed out of their dorm and followed Team RWBY.

They did make it to class on time, but just barely. They hadn't even taken their seats before Professor Port started his ramblings. Ruby couldn't focus on him, as he just droned on and on, boasting about why Huntsman and Huntresses do what they do and something about Grimm and all kinds of other things hardly anyone cared to pay attention to. Even Blake zoned out eventually. Then, he started rambling on about his past. Everyone besides Weiss and mayyyybe one or two others stopped listening after that.

"...the morale of the story? A true Huntsman must be honorable."

Ruby was balancing an apple on top of a book on top of a pencil while making some childish face.

"A true Huntsman must be dependable."

Ruby had fallen asleep sitting up.

"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well educated, and wise."

Ruby was picking her nose. At this point, Weiss had had enough. This was beyond ridiculous. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to put her in charge of anything, let alone a team with much more qualified individuals on it.

"Who here believes themself to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Weiss, fuming at Ruby and desperate to prove those who put Ruby in charge wrong, shot her hand up and said, "I do, sir!"

"Well then… Lets find out." Port seemed almost like he was mocking her. "Step forward, and face your opponent."

A pair of red eyes could be seen through the dark cage. Weiss immediately drew Myrtenaster and took a combat stance. Hardly anyone was going to cheer her on, especially not her team. They'd seen her for who she was.

"Alright. Let the match-" He raised his musket/axe, "-begin!" He brought it down on the lock on the cage. The door flew open and its sole inhabitant was revealed to be a Boarbatusk. This intimidated Weiss slightly (not only was it heavily armored almost everywhere, but she was going to have to do this in front of her class), but never would she show it.

The Boarbatusk charged and Weiss struck its side. It did nothing to the beast but anger it. Weiss, however, was knocked backward by her strike being entirely deflected. She did manage to save herself with a well-orchestrated combat roll, though. Once again, she turned to face it.

"Haha. Wasn't expecting that, were you?" Yep. Port was definitely mocking her. He was going to pay.

Angered, she charged as fast as possible. Myrtenaster ended up getting stuck between its tusks. "Bold new strategy. I like it."

She pulled and could've sworn she almost freed it, but then Ruby said something which distracted her, and it pulled her rapier away from her and flung it across the room, then slammed into her and knocked her back and to the floor.

"Now, what will you do without your weapon?"

Weiss noticed it preparing to charge. Her face reflected utter terror. However, she managed to roll out of the way in the nick of time, resulting in the Grimm charging past her and slamming into the wall, disorienting. She used this to her advantage, sprinting across the room and grabbing Myrtenaster.

"Weiss! Go for it's belly! It has no armor undernea-"

Weiss had had enough. There was nothing Ruby could know that she didn't, so all the mistakenly-chosen-leader could do was distract her. "Stop telling me what to do!"

Ruby's face developed a hurt look. Now, it was Blake's turn to have enough. All Ruby had ever tried to do is help, and this was what Weiss did. Berated and yelled at her. She was going to have a word with the heiress later.

Blake snapped out of her thoughts and looked back to the battle. The Boarbatusk had turned itself into a spinning circle of death and started rolling at Weiss. It seemed she was ready, because she formed a glyph in front of it. It hit hard and was sent flying back, skidding across the floor. It just so happened to land on it's back. Weiss saw her opportunity, jumping into the air, putting a glyph behind her feet, and launching herself at the Grimm, her sword piercing it's stomach, and landing gracefully herself.

"It seems are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress"

Weiss smiled. Hearing something like that from a teacher at Beacon meant a lot to her. No one else had volunteered (not like it mattered, herself and maybe Pyrrha were the only ones that could be succeeded), and her victory didn't come easy.

Oobleck's class had been interesting. Firstly, there was Oobleck himself - a man who moved across the room in one second and talked so fast that his words were hardly discernible. Then, when Jaune had fallen asleep, Oobleck came over and asked him a question. Pyrrha tried to signal him something related to vision, but Jaune had said binoculars. Everyone laughed.

With that out of the way, next came lunch. They were all starving. Once they had all gotten their food, they sat down at the same table as Team JNPR. Weiss had grabbed some Atlesian dish that the rest had never seen before. Yang got so much that the rest couldn't even tell what she had. Blake got, among other small things, tuna. Ruby's consisted of 90% cookies.

Unlike the other three, Ruby's hunger wasn't exactly sated when she had finished her food, so she went back to grab some more. At one point, three guys started talking to her. At this distance, it was impossible to make out what was being said, of course. But, it was painfully obvious they were hitting on her. Noticing this, Weiss looked to Yang and started talking. "I'm surprised you aren't going into big sister mode, Yang."

The blonde replied, "Don't need to."

Weiss couldn't believe this is how Yang would react. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to understand why this would be Yang's reaction. Yang struck her as the type to be the most protective big sister on Remnant.

It seemed she wouldn't have to figure this out on her own after all, because Yang, seeing Weiss' puzzled look, told her, "Let's just say she prefers the sheathe to the sword."

It took Weiss a little while to get what Yang had said, but once she did, her reaction was priceless. That was probably the reason as to why she worded it that way to begin with.

Blake, however, understood Yang almost immediately, and a slight smile spread across her face.

Weiss, for once, had been right. She had known one of the beds would come crashing down, and, sure enough, one did. Specifically, the one held up by a rope. It had slammed into the one below it, breaking its frame in half and tearing up the mattress. Obviously, it was rendered unusable.

This accident left three beds for four people. Not exactly an idyllic situation. Yang had already claimed hers, and so had Weiss. There was no way either of them were giving theirs up, so this left Blake and Ruby. It seemed the non-idyllic situation had turned into a rather good one for the two involved. Neither were going to complain. Sure, not having their own bed wouldn't exactly be fun. But, as last night had shown, one could work just fine.

The rest of the night played out rather simply. The team did their respective pastimes (Ruby and Blake reading their book, Weiss and Yang on their scrolls, the latter playing her music loud enough for people on the other side of the room to use), while one of them got their shower.

Weiss, excited at the prospect of getting away from the rest of them for a while, was the first one to take one. The other three were also happy to rid themselves of Ice Queen for a while.

Blake was next. As soon as she'd entered the bathroom, Yang stopped her music and looked to her younger sister. "Here I was thinking I , lucky most of the time. Then you fall asleep with Blake two nights in a row. And now, you two are literally sleeping in the same bed as each other. Guess I've got some catching up to do."

"Yang…"

"What, I'm congratulating you."

Ruby sighed in defeat. This really never was going to end, was it?

Deciding it'd be better just to find a way to block Yang out, Ruby grabbed her headphones, plugged them into her scroll, turned the volume to max, and selected Red Like Roses Part 2. Now Weiss was screaming at both of them, but they couldn't hear her. They just smirked.

As soon as the bathroom door opened, Ruby and Yang jumped off their beds and ran to the shower, neither wanting to be last (especially Ruby because Yang always took forever). Ruby had her Semblance though, so Yang was doomed to lose from the beginning.

The night ended in the same fashion as the previous two. Yang and Weiss fell asleep early (comparative to the other two), but they stayed awake. It must've been one or two in the morning before they realized they were too tired to read anymore. Blake put her bookmark in the book, then closed it and set it aside.

"Goodnight, Ruby."

"Night, Blake."

Finally laying down and about to fall asleep, Blake realized something. For a long time, Blake's sole companion had been a book. Few people like the Faunus enough to even consider being nice to them, let alone being friends. And those that had would never be there for long. But now, Blake saw that for the past few nights, the book was not her companion. Ruby was.

AN: First off, thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited my story (I think we're at 50 and 25 respectively) on and those of you who've given me Kudos on ao3. It's nice to see that, especially on something that's been up for only a week. Also, due to me having too much time on my hands, excluding this week, this story shall be updated on Mondays and Fridays. Anyways, now that my little speech is over, adieu for now.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: So, before I start writing the actual chapter, I just want to say something: I never expected this story to get this big in this amount of time. It’s been sixteen days since I first posted this, and so far, I have 69 followers, 37 favorites and almost 1700 views (FF.net), and, in 11 days, 3 kudos and 244 hits (ao3). Thank you - all of you. Now, with that out of the way, onto the actual story.

The morning of the Team’s second day at Beacon was much like their first. The only differences were not having to decorate (that already being done) and not being less than a minute away from being late to class. Yang was still Yang, and Ice Queen was grouchy as ever, but everyone had grown to expect that. It was almost a fact of life for Team RWBY.

Classes were as boring as the day before, and no actual work was given. Port rambled on about his personal exploits, Oobleck talked incomprehensibly fast. Blake swore the latter must live on coffee.

Ruby had acted the same as the day before as well, and this caused Weiss explode on her once again. She screamed about almost everything she could, ranging from Ruby’s childishness to Weiss having trained for years for this to Ozpin having made a grave mistake. Both Yang and Blake wanted to throw her from the top of the CCT at this point, but Blake had one last idea until she was ready to enact violence. After Weiss’ fit of rage, she had ran off to do something (the other three had no idea what, but they also didn’t care enough to find out), so Blake panned to have a little chat with her upon her arrival back to the dorms.

About a half hour after leaving, Weiss was back at the dorms. However, she found Blake waiting for her. The Faunus was leaning against the wall to the right of the door, looking less than pleased. Weiss sensed something was about to happen, so she doubled her pace, wanting to get back inside (for once) as quick as possible. However, as she reached down to open the door, Blake grabbed her hand. “No.”

“Let go of me!”

“Fine. But you’re not going back in there yet. We need to talk.” Blake did indeed let go, and, though she didn’t make any attempt to block the door, Weiss knew better than to even try. 

“Weiss, this needs to stop. None of us have done a thing to you and all you do is complain, whine, and scream.”

“Really? You don’t call Ruby almost blowing me off the cliff a ‘thing’?”

“And you don’t call waving dust in her face a bad idea?”

“I-” Weiss stopped dead in her tracks. She knew Blake was right.

“You’re the heiress to one of the largest, richest companies on Remnant. You should be acting like you’re prepared for such a responsibility, but all I see is a spoiled child who’s mad she didn’t get her way. You say Ozpin made a mistake, but you’re just proving my point every time you mention that. That’s probably the reason he didn’t choose you in the first place.”

“How dare you!” Weiss was outraged. Beyond outraged.

“Weiss, you know I’m right, like it or not. So, let me ask you something: do you honestly think acting like this will make Ozpin change his mind?”

“I- no.” Once again, her raven-haired companion had a point. Weiss had to accept that, whether she wanted to or not.

“Then what do you hope to accomplish?”

“I… don’t know.”

“You don’t know? So why do you continue to do this?”

“I just… It should’ve been me! Ruby doesn’t have the first clue how to lead a team!”

“Alright, lets say you’re right. Lets say that, despite what everyone else says, it should have been you. Let me ask you what’ll do more: complaining like a child or being there to help her become the leader you think she should be?”

Dead silence. Weiss finally realized what she had been doing, and just how wrong she’d been doing it. She still maintained that Ozpin was wrong, but Blake had a point. Acting how she did wasn’t going to change a damn thing. It was just going to worsen things.

“Alright, you can go in. Just… please take at least some of what I said seriously.”

Weiss kept her mouth shut and opened the door, but, surprisingly, she turned around and said, “Thanks, Blake.” Walkling back in, she went directly over to her younger teammate, who was currently sitting on her bed doing something on her scroll. “Ruby…” Ruby readied herself for another incident like earlier. Yang sat up from her own bed, ready to beat Ice Queen within an inch of her life. Blake merely stood in front of the door, no one noticing her. She just smirked. “I… Owe you an apology.”

Everyone was shocked by this. That was one of the last things anyone ever expected her to say. “Maybe Ozpin did make a mistake, maybe he didn’t. But what I’ve done won’t change anything. I guess I’m just going to have to… adapt.” That said, Weiss flopped down on her own bed. She wasn’t tired, but she needed to think, even if it was going to be extremely hard because of Yang’s music being louder than the day before.

Blake casually walked back to her team, sitting down on her bed beside Ruby. “Where were you?”

“Dealing with Weiss.”

“Thanks. I guess I owe you another one.”

“I couldn’t let her keep yelling at you for doing essentially nothing.”

“Good job, Blakey.” The duo was surprised when Yang of all people spoke up. It seemed she had paused her obnoxiously loud music for once. They couldn’t decide what was more surprising: Yang not snickering at their every move or Yang pausing her music for once.

“Uh… Thanks.”

“Something wrong?”

“No, I just… Nevermind.”

“Whatever you say.” Yang resumed her music. Blake vaguely recognized the current song as I May Fall. 

“Hey, Blake?”

“Yeah, Ruby?”

“Have you ever… uh… been with anyone?”

The answer to this was, of course, yes. Blake had been with someone. One person to be exact, and what a mess he turned out to be. “Yeah. A while ago. He turned out to have way more problems than he was worth though.”

“Whaddya mean?”

“It’s… A long story, one I’d rather not get into. Some of the wounds he left still haven’t healed. Most of them, to be honest.”

“Oh.”

“I might tell you some more some other time, but… Not now.”

“That’s fine.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“Mhm.”

A short silence followed. However, this time, it was broken by Blake.

“So… How about you?”

“What?”

“You ever been with anyone?”

Ruby’s cheeks went red as her namesake. This was never an easy topic for her to discuss with anyone, let alone Blake. She didn’t quite know why this was the case though. They’d grown close, so it should have been easier to discuss with her than anyone else, but it was the opposite. “Not really. I had a few crushes in the past, but nothing ever came from them. I got moved ahead from Signal, so anyone from there isn’t an option.”

“Hm… Anyone from here?”

“Maybe.”

Blake knew that any time anyone replied ‘maybe’ to something like this, it meant yes. “Who is she?”

“How did you-”

“Overheard Yang talking to Weiss yesterday at lunch.”

“Oh.” Yang was going to pay for this.

“Anyways, you gonna answer my question?”

“I already did.”

Blake knew this conversation was going to go nowhere from here, so she decided not to pursue it… for now.

As for the rest of the night, it continued much the same way as the last few. Everyone made sure to beat Yang to the shower while the latter made sure to continue to annoy everyone with her not-so-quiet music. Blake and Ruby read late into the night. The morning came, as did classes, and then the night returned, the four doing things as per usual. This continued for awhile, the only notable exceptions being Jaune getting all buddy-buddy with Cardin of all people and defending the sorry excuse of a man. The next notable thing to happen involved the end of the first week. Besides the place just becoming much more livelier due to the students finally getting some time off (besides Oobleck’s homework, aka the only homework of that week), Glynda had announced that the students would be heading to the forest of Forever Fall to collect some things. Some were excited because it sounded interesting. Others (mainly the girls) were excited because it was going to be ‘pretty’. Weiss could’ve cared less. Yang was just happy to go somewhere new. Blake and Ruby were somewhat happy, but both would’ve been just as content staying at the dorms. 

Needless to say, everyone had different opinions, but the prospect of going somewhere off of school grounds (besides Vale) was an interesting prospect. How everything would play out was up in the air though. As Ozpin had mentioned earlier, the year was definitely going to be interesting.

AN: So, sorry for not getting this up yesterday. I intended to, but irl shit happened, including my internet basically deciding it didn’t feel like it wanted to work all day. Sorry about that, but here you go today… at 7 in the goddamn morning because idfk why I’m still awake. Also, as for how the story is going to play out: Volume 1 will be almost the same, save for a couple episodes. Volume 2 is where things will really kick off, both regarding the ships and the story in general. Volume 3 will diverge from canon a lot, though the larger and more important things will still play out. I have no clue for Volume 4, but I’m doubting it’ll be anywhere near the same considering not much really happened in the show.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: So, here’s the next chapter for you guys. Sorry about the short length of the last one, there just wasn’t much to write for what I had planned, and if I had just meshed two chapters into one, it would have taken too long to write. Also, me being the nocturnal creature of the night that I am, I know this wasn’t technically uploaded on Monday (couple hours past midnight), but meh. Close enough. Anyways, here ya go.

Forever Fall was quite the beautiful place. True to its namesake, the leaves in the trees there were never green like in summer or spring, but none fell off as they would normally do in winter. Instead, it seemed they were perpetually trapped in a state resembling how they should be in fall: every color besides green.

This beauty was only matched by the danger of venturing too far off the normal path. Grimm surrounded the area, but, for some reason, didn’t venture too close unless the emotions they fed off of presented themselves.

The Beacon first years had been sent there to collect the sap (which more resembled pure syrup than anything else). Everyone partnered up and were given two jars to get the sap with. This went smoothly for most of them, but some had rather mischievous partners, and others got partners who would repeatedly drink all of it out of the jar before the other could be filled… Actually, this only happened to one person: Ren. Nora was definitely a bad choice.

Jaune went off with Cardin and his team for reasons unknown to everyone else. This saddened Pyrrha a little, but she seemed cheery otherwise. The most surprising duo was, somehow, Weiss and Yang. This was a result of their two teammates partnering up, but it was surprising the two didn’t just go their own, separate ways. Ruby and Blake would’ve both been surprised if Yang didn’t come back with a broken nose or something. Weiss could barely put up with any of them, especially Yang. This was definitely going to be interesting.

Besides collecting the sap, the only things they were told involved Glynda being there to make sure none of them died and to meet up at four o’clock. Other than that, they were sent off on their own. This lack of supervision definitely worked in favor of people like Cardin, but that would - as everyone knew - never lead to anything even resembling good. The day had been pretty uneventful until the fearless warriors of Team CRDL were seen running like scared little girls. Yang had stopped one of them and asked what was going on. They told her that an Ursa was after Cardin. Yang almost smiled.

Pyrrha, however was not so pleased. Upon hearing this, she stood in a rigid pose, dropped her jar, and muttered something about Jaune.

Ruby intended to go deal with the threat, but realized someone needed to be alerted. “Yang, go get Professor Goodwitch.”

Pyrrha gestured to the other half of Team JNPR. “You two go with; there could be more.”

Yang, Ren, and Nora started sprinting to the Professor while Blake, Ruby, and Pyrrha tore off to where Jaune and Cardin were. Upon arrival, the Ursa was getting ready to strike the fatal blow, but that just wasn’t destined to happen because Jaune showed up at the last second and blocked its claw with his shield. His strength was clearly waning, so Weiss adopted a combat stance and got ready to charge, but Pyrrha simply put her hand up and told her to wait.

Once Jaune got out from under the Ursa’s claw, he swung at its torso. It howled in pain. He charged multiple times, but every blow he inflicted was minor at best and usually resulted in the Ursa deflecting his blows, knocking him down, or flinging him to the other side of the clearing. After the fifth instance of this, he looked down at something on his wrist, though the others had no clue what. 

After seeing whatever he saw, he charged again. This one was faster, but seemed more desperate. It seemed as though he was going to stab it in the torso and his shield was lowered. This miraculously changed in the blink of an eye when his shield was brought up to block its incoming strike, then he decapitated it.

“Uh… What?” Ruby asked, confused.

“How did you-” Blake began to ask, but got cut off.

“Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your Shadow Clones… My semblance is polarity.”

“Oh, you can control poles.”

“Uh, Ruby, I think she means magnetism.”

“Oh, magnets are cool too.”

Pyrrha turned around and started to walk away when Ruby asked, “Wait, where are you going? We have to tell them what happened.”

Pyrrha turned her head with a slight smirk on her face. “We could… Or perhaps we could make it our little secret.”

With that said, the trio walked off, leaving Jaune and Cardin to do whatever they were going to do. They all knew Cardin wouldn’t dare try anything after what Jaune did for him, so they had no reason to be worried.

\-----------------

The next day started off quite interestingly. Weiss - for the first time they’d ever seen - was actually cheery. She insisted on everyone getting up early - on one of their days off - for reasons which they later learned involved something with the Vytal Festival. Blake and Ruby really didn’t feel like getting up for reasons neither could pinpoint. However, with Weiss badgering them for a half hour and the threat of Yang getting to the shower before them, they reluctantly left their shared bed and went about their morning as per usual.

The exact moment they were all ready, Weiss had them out of the dorm and was leading them to somewhere they had either not been told of or simply didn’t remember in their dreary haze. Whatever the case, they followed the heiress for a while. Eventually, they came across a banner stretched across the street that read “Welcome to Vale”. Upon seeing this, Weiss said, “The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is so exciting!”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile this much Weiss… It’s kinda weirding me out.”

Weiss looked back at Ruby. “How could you not be excited? A festival dedicated to the cultured of the world! There will be dances, parades, a tournament. Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this is simply breathtaking!” Weiss turned around and started walking once more.

“Weiss, you really know how to take a cool thing and make it sound boring,” Yang told the heiress.

“Quiet, you.”

“Remind me again why we’re spending our Friday afternoon visiting the docks.”

“Ugh. They smell like fish,” Ruby said, pinching her nose to prevent the foul smell from entering it.”

“I heard that students from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom.

Blake, in her usual monotone, told the rest, “She wants to spy on them to gain the upper hand in the tournament.”

“You can’t prove that!”

Ruby looked over to her right to see a shop that had broken windows with yellow police tape over them and two police officers out front. When the other three noticed, they looked at it as well. They decided to approach the crime scene and see what was going on. Ruby was the first to say anything. “What happened here?”

“Robbery. Second dust shop hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle.”

“That’s terrible,” Yang said.

“They left all the money again.” This time, it was the other police officer to speak up.

“It just doesn’t make a lick of sense. Who needs that much dust?”

“I dunno… An army?”

“You thinkin’ the, uh, White Fang?”

“Yeah, I’m thinking we don’t get paid enough.”

At hearing this, Weiss crossed her arms. “Hmph. The White Fang… What an awful bunch of degenerates.”

“What’s your problem?” Blake asked.

“My problem? I simply don’t care for the criminally insane.”

“The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They’re a collection of misguided Faunus.” Blake spoke as though she was speaking from experience. None of the others seemed to catch this though.

“Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet.”

“So then they’re very misguided. Either way, it doesn’t explain why they’d rob a dust shop in the middle of Downtown Vale.”

Ruby was already getting tired of this. “Hm… Blake has a point. Besides, they never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few weeks back. Maybe it was him.”

“That still doesn’t change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal.”

Now Yang was getting annoyed too. “That’s not necessarily true.”

“Hey! Stop that Faunus!” 

The four ran to the docks to see two men chasing a blonde Faunus with a tail. He perched himself on the side of the ship and said, “Thanks for the ride, guys!” before jumping to the docks below.

“You no-good stowaway!”

The Faunus, now upside down and holding onto a street light by his tail, said, “Hey, a no-good stowaway would’ve been caught. I’m a great stowaway.” 

A rock was sent flying at his face, but he just swung himself out of the way.

“Hey. Get down from there this instant.” The voice came from one of the police officers from before, who were currently standing in front of him. His reply was given in the form of a banana peel being dropped on his head. He growled in anger while the Faunus swung himself on top of the lamp post, then jumped off and landed a good fifteen feet ahead of them. He took off, and the cops went after him. Team RWBY saw him making his way towards them. While he was running, he looked at Blake and winked. She had a disgusted look on her face and Yang seemed to have noticed, because she said, “Wow, Blake. Looks like you’ve got an admirer.”

“He’s out of luck then.”

“Quick! Stop your talking! We must observe him!” The four started sprinting after the Faunus. They were gaining on him, but, as they rounded a corner, Weiss slammed into something. She was knocked down, but looked up to see the Faunus launch himself up to a roof and away from the cops. “No! He got away!”

“Uh… Weiss?” Yang pointed to what she had ran into, Weiss finally snapped out of chase mode and realized she had ran into and knocked down another girl. Seeing this, she jumped up.

“Salutations!” The girl exclaimed, still remaining on the ground.

“Are you… okay?” Yang asked.

“I’m wonderful. Thank you for asking.”

“Do you… Wanna get up?”

“Yes.” The girl suddenly jumped up, causing the others to take a step back. “I’m Penny. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Hi Penny. I’m Ruby.”

“I’m Weiss.” 

“Blake.”

“Are you sure you didn’t hit your head?” Blake elbowed Yang in her stomach. “Oh, I’m Yang.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“You already said that,” Weiss told Penny, obviously getting a little annoyed.

“So I did.”

“Well, sorry for running into you,” Weiss told her before turning around and walking away. The others followed suit.

“She was… Weird,” Yang said.

“Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?”

“What did you just call me?” Penny asked, causing the group to turn around. Weiss couldn’t tell whether she was talking to Yang or herself.

“Oh, I’m really sorry. I definitely didn’t think you heard me.”

“No, not you.” Penny pushed Yang aside. “You,” she stated, approaching Ruby.

“Me? I… Uh… I don’t know what I… Uh...”

“You called me friend. Am I really your friend?” The other three got behind her and did every signal in existence to tell Ruby to say no, though to no avail.

“Uh, yeah, sure, whatever.” The others almost fainted upon hearing this.

“Sensational! We can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys!”

“Weiss, was this what it was like when you met me?”

“No. She seems far more coordinated.”

“So…” Yang said, struggling to come up with a question. “What are you doing here in Vale?”

“I’m here to fight in the tournament.”

“Wait, you’re here to fight in the tournament?” Weiss couldn’t believe that Penny of all people would be in it.

“I’m combat ready!” Penny said, saluting for some reason.

“Forgive me, but you hardly look the part,” Weiss stated.

“Says the girl wearing a dress,” Blake pointed out.

“It’s a combat skirt.”

“Yeah,” Ruby said, showing up beside Weiss. The two proceeded to high-five.

“Wait a minute. If you’re here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed… rapscallion?”

“The who?”

“The filthy Faunus from the boat!”

“Why do you keep saying that?” Blake shouted.

“Huh?”

“Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He’s a person!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trashcan as a trashcan? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?”

“Stop it!”

“Stop what? He clearly broke the law. Give him time, he’ll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang.”

Blake clenched her fist. “Ugh, you ignorant little brat!” She started to walk away. 

“How dare you say that? I’m your friend.”

“You are a judgemental little girl.”

Yang walked up beside Ruby. “You wanna go somewhere?”

“Where are we going?” Penny asked. She got no answer. 

“-so you admit it! The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!”

\---------------

The fighting was still going on. Not only had they gotten back to their dorms, but now it was literally dark outside. And the two were still fighting. Yang had tuned it out. Ruby had no clue what to say nor what to do, so she didn’t do anything.

“I don’t understand why this is causing such a problem!”

“That is the problem.”

“You do realize you’re defending an organization that hates humanity, don’t you?” Weiss stood up. “The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!”

“There’s no such thing as pure evil!” Blake was standing now too. “Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It’s because of people like Cardin, people like you - that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!”

“People like me?”

“You’re discriminatory!”

“I’m a victim! You want to know why I despise the White Fang, why I don’t particularly trust the Faunus? It’s because they’ve been at war with my family for years. War - as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather’s company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I’ve watched family and friends disappear. Board members, executed. An entire train car full of dust - stolen. And every day, my father would come home furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood.” Weiss balled up her fist and slammed it down on the table. “You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It’s because they’re a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!”

“Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!”

It took everyone a moment to comprehend what Blake had just said, and the same time for Blake herself to do so. When she did, she ran. Opened the door and ran. Ran as fast as she could. However, she wasn’t the fastest one there. She hadn’t gotten ten feet away from the door when something had grabbed her arm. She looked over to see it was Ruby. “Let. Go!”

“No! I’m not just going to let you run off like this! We’re a team, we solve our problems as a team! You running off won’t help anything. We need you here, Blake. I need you.”

At hearing this, Blake stopped fighting against Ruby’s grip. She realized what she was about to do, and what its consequences would be. “Ruby, I-”

“I don’t care. I don’t care that you were a part of the White Fang. I don’t even care that you hid that from us.”

When Blake looked at Ruby, she could see tears starting to well up in her eyes. “You… don’t care?”

“No! You said you were a part of them, right? Were, as in you aren’t right now?”

“Yes, I-” 

“Then that’s all I need to know. You’re my teammate, Blake. You’re my friend. I don’t care what happened before. The past is done. But right now isn’t. And right now, I need you here, not in the middle of Vale. Just… come back. I think Yang is already handling Weiss. We’ll figure things out.”

“Ruby, do you… really mean all that?”

“Yes! You’ve done so much for me, Blake. You were there to get Weiss off my back on the first day, and you got her to stop getting angry at me all the time for everything. You stopped me from falling on the airship when we first met. You’re there to read our book every night. You were happy to share your own bed with me… There’s almost nothing you haven’t done.”

When she put it like that, what Ruby had said earlier in the conversation made sense, all of it. “Fine… Lets go see what Ice Queen has to say.”

Upon opening the door, they expected Weiss to start screaming once more. However, that did not happen. Instead, she was laying in her bed, ignoring all of them. It was probably for the better. It had already been a long day, and they figured they might as well follow suit. Nothing else good was going to happen. Sleep was the best - and pretty much only - option, though they both doubted any actual sleep would occur. Too much had happened, not to mention the uncertainty of tomorrow. Whatever happened next, happened. That was how things would have to go. One thing was for sure: none of them were eager for the following day, but they would have to confront that eventually.

AN: So, there you have it. Chapter five is done. This is my longest chapter yet by pure word count. On a side note, Volume 1 is now wrapped up (yay(?)). The next chapter will take place between the first two Volumes, but Volume 2 will be reached before too long. As always, follow/favorite/review/whatever else you wanna do if you haven’t already, and if you have, thanks. Anyways, I shall see you guys in a few days. Adieu for now.


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